Joshua 24

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He called for the elders of Israel, their leaders, their judges, and their officers, and they came and stood before God.

1And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

NoteShechem was a city in the central hill country, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, about thirty miles north of Jerusalem. It was where Abraham first stopped in Canaan and where Jacob bought land, and it had long been a place where covenants and agreements were made. The four groups named (elders, leaders (literally "heads," meaning clan chiefs), judges, and officers) were the standing ranks of Israelite leadership; "officers" translates a word for administrators or record-keepers rather than soldiers. "Presented themselves before God" is language for standing at a sanctuary.

2Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors lived on the far side of the Euphrates River, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they served other gods.

2And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.

NoteWhere the King James says "the other side of the flood," the Hebrew means "beyond the River", the Euphrates, in what is now Iraq. It has nothing to do with Noah's flood; "flood" in 1611 English could simply mean a great river. Terah, Abraham's father, came from Ur and settled in Haran, both east of that river.

3But I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of the river and led him through the whole land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants, and I gave him a son, Isaac.

3And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

4To Isaac I gave two sons, Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to own, but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

4And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

NoteSeir is the mountainous country south and east of the Dead Sea, later called Edom, and Esau's descendants were the Edomites. Naming it here explains why one brother's family ended up outside Canaan and the other's in Egypt.

5Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with plagues by what I did there. After that I brought you out.

5I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.

6I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians chased after your ancestors with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.

6And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.

Note"Red Sea" translates Hebrew *yam suph*, which literally means "sea of reeds." Exactly which body of water is meant has been debated since ancient times; the traditional identification is the northern arm of the Red Sea.

7When they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea over the Egyptians and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the desert a long time.

7And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.

8I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived on the east side of the Jordan River. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you, so that you took their land, and I destroyed them ahead of you.

8And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

NoteThe Amorites here are the kingdoms of Sihon and Og, east of the Jordan, defeated before Israel ever crossed into Canaan. "The other side of Jordan" is said from the standpoint of someone already west of the river.

9Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to make war on Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you,

9Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you:

NoteBalak, king of Moab (the territory east of the Dead Sea), hired Balaam, a professional diviner from the upper Euphrates, to pronounce a curse on Israel. In the ancient world a curse spoken by a recognized specialist was thought to have real force, and hiring one was a normal move before a battle. The full story is told in Numbers 22–24.

10but I would not listen to Balaam. Instead, he kept on blessing you, and I rescued you from Balak's power.

10But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand.

Note"He blessed you still" uses "still" in its older sense of "again and again," not "nevertheless", Balaam pronounced blessing repeatedly instead of the curse he was paid for. The Hebrew of the last phrase, "I delivered you out of his hand," does not say whose hand: it could be Balak's or Balaam's.

11You crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, and so did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I handed them all over to you.

11And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.

NoteThis seven-name list is a stock formula in the Hebrew Bible for the assorted peoples living in Canaan before Israel; the names are not meant as a precise census of who fought at Jericho. "The men of Jericho" translates a word for the city's leading citizens or landholders.

12I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites. It was not your sword or your bow that did it.

12And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "hornet" (*tsir'ah*) occurs only three times in the Bible and its sense is uncertain. It may mean literal hornets, or it may be a figure of speech for the panic and demoralisation that scattered an enemy ahead of an army; some have connected it to Egyptian military pressure, since the hornet or bee was a royal emblem in Egypt. "The two kings of the Amorites" are Sihon and Og.

13I gave you a land you did not work for, and cities you did not build, and you live in them. You eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.'

13And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.

14"So now, respect the LORD and serve him honestly and faithfully. Throw away the gods your ancestors served on the far side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

14Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

Note"Fear the LORD" translates a Hebrew word covering awe, reverence and loyal respect toward a superior, not fright. "Sincerity and truth" renders two words meaning wholeness or integrity, and reliability or trustworthiness: acting without duplicity and keeping one's word.

15But if serving the LORD does not seem good to you, then choose today whom you will serve. Will it be the gods your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, whose land you now live in? As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

15And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Note"If it seem evil unto you" uses "evil" in its older, wider sense of "bad" or "displeasing", the question is what the people find undesirable, not what is wicked. "My house" means a household in the ancient sense: family, dependants and servants under one head.

16The people answered, "We would never leave the LORD to serve other gods!

16And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

Note"God forbid" is the King James translators' rendering of a Hebrew idiom that literally means "far be it from us." The Hebrew does not mention God at all; it is a strong expression of refusal.

17The LORD our God is the one who brought us and our ancestors up out of Egypt, out of the land where we were slaves. He did those great signs right in front of us. He kept us safe the whole way we traveled, and among all the peoples we passed through.

17For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:

18The LORD drove out ahead of us all those peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."

18And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God.

19Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not overlook your rebellion or your sins.

19And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

Note"Holy" translates a word whose root sense is "set apart, belonging to a different category." "Jealous" translates *qanna'*, used of a husband's exclusive claim on a wife; it describes a demand for undivided loyalty rather than petty envy, and English has no single word that carries the sense. "Transgressions" renders *pesha'*, a political term for rebellion or breaking faith with an overlord.

20If you leave the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn against you and bring harm on you and wipe you out, even after he has been good to you."

20If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

Note"Strange gods" in older English means foreign gods, gods belonging to other peoples, not gods that are odd.

21The people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve the LORD."

21And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.

22Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

22And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.

NoteThis is courtroom and treaty language. Ancient agreements were sealed in the presence of named witnesses who could later testify if one party broke the terms; here the people are made to serve as witnesses to their own undertaking, so no one else need be called.

23"Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you," he said, "and turn your hearts toward the LORD, the God of Israel."

23Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.

24The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God, and we will obey his voice."

24And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.

25So that day Joshua made a covenant with the people, a binding agreement, and there at Shechem he set down for them a rule and a law.

25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

NoteThe Hebrew idiom is "cut a covenant." A covenant was a formal, binding agreement of the kind made between a ruler and his subjects, with stated terms, obligations and consequences. "A statute and an ordinance" are two words for fixed, written rulings, the standing terms of the agreement.

26Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree that stood by the holy place of the LORD.

26And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

NoteA "book" here means a scroll, not a bound volume. The oak is spoken of as a particular, well-known tree, and large trees often marked sacred sites; "the sanctuary of the LORD" indicates there was already a recognized holy place at Shechem.

27Joshua said to all the people, "Look at this stone. It will be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words the LORD spoke to us. So it will be a witness against you, in case you deny your God."

27And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.

NoteIn ancient treaties the gods of both parties were called as witnesses; where that was not appropriate, a standing stone or monument could be set up to serve the same function, silently "testifying" to what had been agreed by its continued presence at the spot.

28Then Joshua sent the people away, each man to the land he had been given.

28So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.

Note"Inheritance" is the standard term for the block of land allotted to each family and tribe. It was not bought or earned but assigned, and it was meant to stay in the family permanently.

29After all this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died. He was one hundred and ten years old.

29And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

Note"The servant of the LORD" is a formal title of honor, used elsewhere chiefly of Moses; applying it to Joshua at his death places him alongside Moses. In Egyptian tradition one hundred and ten years was the ideal, perfect lifespan, the same age given for Joseph's death.

30They buried him on the land he had been given, at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

30And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.

NoteTimnath-serah was the town Joshua himself had asked for and been given when the land was divided (Joshua 19:49–50). "Mount Ephraim" in the King James means the hill country belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, not a single peak.

31Israel served the LORD as long as Joshua lived, and as long as the elders lived who outlived Joshua and who had seen for themselves everything the LORD had done for Israel.

31And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.

32The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had carried up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the piece of ground that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. It became the property of Joseph's descendants.

32And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

NoteJoseph had made his brothers swear to carry his bones out of Egypt when they eventually left (Genesis 50:25), and Moses took them at the exodus (Exodus 13:19). Burying him at Shechem puts him in ground his own great-grandfather had bought outright (Genesis 33:19). "A hundred pieces of silver" translates *qesitah*, an old unit of value whose weight was already unknown to later readers; coins did not yet exist, so silver was weighed out.

33Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him on the hill that belonged to his son Phinehas, land that had been given to Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

33And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.

NoteEleazar was Aaron's son and successor as chief priest, and Phinehas was Eleazar's son. The Hebrew reads "Gibeah of Phinehas"; Gibeah simply means "hill," so this may be a place name rather than a description of the terrain.